Top Blogs from Faingold at Large

L-R: Dave Baker, Jeff Williams and Brian Tober, ca. 1980s (photo courtesy Bill Tober) Known to many as a devoted family man and passionate educator, Dave Baker was also renowned for his antic personality and love for all things punk. When he passed away suddenly last week from natural causes, the Springfield-area music scene lost one of its greatest provocateurs and enthusiasts, a veritabl...

Are you a singer? A stand-up comedian? A poet? A sumo wrestler? A yo-yo champion? Or do you just like to get up in front of a group of people and try to freak them out? Boy, oh boy, does The Pharmacy have a deal for you. The Pharmacy's open mic night has a completely flexible format - come sign up at 6:30 and do your best (or worst!) once your name is called. Come on down, Springfie...

12K Tonight, Champaign-based rapper / producer 12K will hold the release party for his new PSA mixtape as Torch Tuesday continues to diversify and bring in hip-hop artists from all around the region. Listen to his stuff here: Also appearing tonight will be Champaign's Jay Moses,

In The Wizard of Oz (1939), a young farm girl from Kansas wishes for excitement and gets more than she bargained for when a cyclone lands her in Oz, a bizarre alternate reality populated by odd, often hostile creatures. In Spring Breakers, currently playing in Springfield at AMC's Parkway 8, four young college girls wish for excitement and get more than they bargained for when a Greyhound bu...

Flyer by Mary Brennen It's the third Thursday of the month, which can only mean it's time for Third Thursday, Springfield's most reliable art and music event, 6pm-9pm at Donnie's Homespun. Here's an excerpt from my 2012 Illinois Times year end art scene wrap-up, describing what you might expect: As indicated by their name, on the third Thursday of every month, a constantly shifting...

Over the past year or so, Torch Tuesday at Bar None has steadily transformed from a rap-oriented open mic night into a varied and exciting place for all elements of hip-hop culture -- not just MCs and DJs but poets, visual artists, photographers, fashion designers, and more --to gather and find expression. There's a lot of local and regional talent on display each week, but host Aaron Uncanny ...

In a 1981 case study conducted at the University of Kansas, researchers described the experiences of a woman with the neurological condition called chromesthesia, which caused her to experience sound as a visual color experience as well as an auditory sensation. Chromesthetics describe every sound they hear as triggering a ...

This is the fourth in a series of posts leading up to this evening's (Saturday, March 9) group exhibit of work by members of local art collective The Pharmacy. Installation Sketch 1 by Heather Brammeier It's basically a painting in space, says Heather Brammeier of the installation work she plans to show at tonight's Pharmacy gallery opening. I compose it the same way I would compo...